As part of our Sacramento Inno coverage, the Business Journal for the first time compiled a list of Startups to Watch in the new year. These startups are poised to make big moves, either in growth, funding, technology or development. We're highlighting 13 startups, generally with fewer than 100 employees, about 5 years old or less and that have raised less than $50 million. The group includes a diverse mix of companies throughout the region.
Startup to Watch: Acorn Finance
Sacramento fintech company Acorn Finance uses its technology platform to connect homeowners and contractors with home equity loan offers from financial institutions to do home improvements.
The platform can show a path to financing in seconds because it accesses pre-qualified offers from a network of lenders, ranging from other fintechs to banks and finance companies, said Acorn Finance CEO Giri Addanki.
Acorn, which launched in 2018, operates with both a business-to-consumer model and a business-to-business model where it works with contractors who do home improvement work. The company raised $1 million in June, and plans to raise another round of growth capital in the near future. Working with a variety of lenders, Acorn can offer loans for as little as $500 and as much as $500,000, so it can finance expenses as small as replacing a stove to as large as building an accessory dwelling unit.
Acorn doesn’t do the lending; its lending partners provide the loans. Acorn gets paid a fee from the lenders who make loans through the platform, Addanki said. Acorn also works with Point Digital Finance Inc., a Palo Alto company that provides equity sharing loans. Under that model, Point doesn’t charge monthly payments for the loan. Rather, it takes an equity share in the home. Acorn is among a growing cluster of fintech companies in the Sacramento region.
